Report: Heroin deaths up 550 percent in 2012

2:59 PM,
Jul. 26, 2013

Written by

Amanda Joering

While Kentucky's overall overdose rate declined in 2012, deaths attributed to heroin overdoses saw a spike of 550 percent according to an Overdose Fatality Report issued Friday, July 26, by the Office of Drug Control Policy.

The report, mandated under a provision in House Bill 1, shows a drop from 1,023 overdose deaths in Kentucky in 2011 to 1,004 in 2012, while heroin overdose deaths rose from 22 in 2011 to 143 in 2012.

The reports showed that overdose deaths attributed to the use of heroin accounted for 19.56 percent of all the Kentucky Medical Examiner drug overdose cases in 2012, up from 3.22 ...